Potato-planter.



C. D. HATFIELD. POTATO PLANTER. APPLICATION FILED ocr. I8. 1913.

1 1 60,887. Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

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FIQQ I CORBIN n. HATFIELD, ornnplwws NEBRASKA.

FOTATO-PLAN'IIER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patgntefd'N V, 16, 1915,

Application filed October 18, 1913. Serial No. 795,907.

5 improved intermittent feed, improved picker arrangement and other improved structures that will hereinafter appear.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in the details of construction and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail ref-' erence WllllOG had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a vertical section of a planter constructed in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2, an enlarged detail view of the picker; Fig. 3, a detail view of the inter mittent feeding mechanism used in connection with the hopper, and Fig. 4, an enlarged detail view of the dropper.

In the present embodiment of the invention there is provided a main frame which consists of the transverse members 10 and 11 which are connected together by longitudinal members 12. Carried on the members 12 is a shaft 13. Mounted on the main frame is a hopper 30. which is provided with a downwardly extended portion 31 having hinged to one side a door 32. Pivoted to one of the members 12 is a bell crank lever 33 which has one arm lying close to the shaft 13 while the arm thereof is connected by means of a link 34 to the door 32.

In order to hold the door normally closed it is provided with a suitable tension spring 35, one end of which is connected to the door and the other end to a fixed part of the hopper. .Mounted on the shaft 13 is a cam 36 which is in engagement with the bell crank lever and consequentl when the shaft is rotated operates this ever to cause with the tube 43.

and the receptacle is a tube 43 which is sup- I ported on the rear end of the earth opening tool 44, the latter having a recess 45 in the rear portion thereof which communicates Journaled at the lower end of the tube is a shaft 46 whereon is mounted a sprocket 47 which is connected by a chain 48 with a sprocket 49 on the shaft 13. On the shaft 46 is mounted a dropper consisting of a series of diverging blades 50, said dropper revolving in the lower end of the tube so that the seed p0 tatoes may be fed by this means into the recess 45 of the earth opening tool.

In operation the hopper is filled with potatoes and when the device is driven across the fields the picker arms 40 revolve and pass through the slot in the receptacle and the prongs onthe arms will each pick up a potato or a portion of a potato. Further revolution of these arms causes the knock off member to clear. the prongs of potatoes successively and they thereupon drop down the tube 43 and through the medium of the ropper are fed downward into the furrow opened by the earth opening tool.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, is

1. In a check row potato planter, a frame,

a hopper, a main shaft journaled on said frame, a door at the lower end of the hop per, a spring normally holding said door closed, a cam on said shaft, alever pivoted on the frame and having one end engaging the cam, the opposite end thereof connected to saiddoor, a receptacle arranged to receive the potatoes from the hopper upon opening of the door, and means operated by the shaft to individually remove the potatoes from the receptacle and deposit them in the ground.

2. In a check row potato planter, a frame, a hopper,a main shaft journaled on said frame, a door at the lower end of the hopper, a spring normally holding said door closed, a cam on said shaft, a lever pivoted on the frame and having one end engaging In testimony whereof, I aifiX my signature, in the presence of two Witnesses.

CORBIN D. HATFIELD.

the cam, the opposite end thereof connected to said door, a receptacle arranged to receive the potatoes from the hopper upon opening of the door, a picker Working through said receptacle, a knock-ofi' member adjacent the path of the picker, and a dropper mechanism below said knock-oil member.

Witnesses:

H. L. WILSON, WILLIAM JAMES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

